


Vacation In Hell

by somethingfullofangst (sram)



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Amnesia, Changkyun is not a ghost, M/M, a love that defies time, haunted house aesthetic, religious background, sacrificial offering, unwanted guests, whodunnit without murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 14:42:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15709311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sram/pseuds/somethingfullofangst
Summary: Minhyuk comments when he finds Kihyun dazed staring at the painting for too long. “It seems kind of charming, doesn’t it!”“It’s probably haunted and we’re all gonna die.” KIhyun tears his eyes away from the picture to find that Jooheon is once again watching him with this intense gaze. Too intense for a stranger to be watching another stranger.





	1. The Guests Call It Home Before Dawn

1\. The Mansion Comes To Life At Night. And The Guests Call It Home Before Dawn

 

Kihyun watches over the thin rim of his glasses as the car comes to a skittering halt in front of the Bareheart Mansion. His face has been contorted in the same look of disgust since they left the house over an hour ago, at the request of his two friends that have been invited to attend a dinner by one of their eccentric (read: creepy) friends out there in those woods that nobody likes visiting.

The mansion already goes against several of KIhyun’s beliefs in life. First of all, it looks more like a castle with all of the spires coming out of the roof and the three stories of floors and rooms that are either missing windows or have ones so massive you see all of the contents inside. Which sometimes happens to be one single piece of furniture, like a bed, or a table adorned with vines and flowers. Creepy. Creepy. Creepy. Because it’s just not lived in. At all.

The outside of the mansion is built up from dusty cement-colored bricks, and the few windows have thick metal bars vertically placed on the _inside_ of the house, which is now the most unusual aspect of the building. 

The rest of it is that on the very right end of the house, from where he’s sitting on the backseat, there is a tower that is about three or four stories taller than the rest of it, with a tilting spire sitting atop it. No windows. No purpose. Just large-as-life. 

Kihyun curses under his breath as he exits the car. His limbs have gone numb and stiff after sitting in the car the whole ride because he was a pouty baby when they did stop for gas and refused to leave the car, and whoo boy does he have to pay for that shit now.

As his bones are cracking and popping and he’s groaning about it, the owner of the ridiculously creepy mansion comes out of the massive open front door with a smile so wide his dimples are showing. “Welcome you two. My lovely friends. My guests… And someone else?”

Kihyun slaps a palm down on Hyunwoo’s shoulder and yanks him down so they are level with one another. “Have you made enemies with this guy? Cause honestly this feels like he’s going to murder us in our sleep-”

Minhyuk’s excited giggling breaks Kihyun’s train of thought and he turns to the source of the sound to realize Minhyuk has literally jumped up into this man’s arms and is squealing. “Oh my! Jooheon! I missed you so much!”

“Hey now.” Kihyun starts cautiously, scared of what he’s about to say next. “Minhyuk only says that to people he’s fucked, or wants to fuck.”

“Can you please not talk about my fiance like that? While he’s standing five feet away?” Hyunwoo shoots back with this look of complete horror on his face, which Kihyun assumes is because he’s 100% right and Hyunwoo knows it.

“And to answer your question no, as far as I’m concerned we’re all just good friends. We went to college together. Science.”

“Agh now you’re lying to me. That guy looks like he doesn’t even know how to spell science.”

As Kihyun is flat-out berating this dirty blonde with dimples so deep they can be bowls, Minhyuk jumps down from the hug and turns to introduce them. “Jooheon this is my fiance’s roommate, Kihyun. And you already know Hyunwoo, of course.” Jooheon’s hair bounces when he catches Minhyuk, but bounces even more when he sets him down. 

“Oh no, that’s horrifying… When you get married, where will this stray soul live?” Jooheon’s lips go into a straight line and his dimples vanish into nothing behind a smooth sharp jawline. 

Minhyuk’s smile also vanishes, looking more annoyed than anything. “I guess he’ll still live with us since the last time he even tried to get a job the top interviewer got struck by lighting the day before the interview.”

“It’s no wonder death likes him so much. He’s troubled.” Jooheon mumbles almost too inaudibly for anybody to hear. But Kihyun does. And the shudders under his skin don’t stop until Jooheon settles on studying Minhyuk’s face instead of his.

When they’ve finished with the introductions and they’ve managed to drag their sore bodies up the brick staircase (Hyunwoo and Kihyun, because MInhyuk somehow convinced Jooheon to carry him the whole way) they manage to get inside and Kihyun, gasping for air, comes face-to-face with a very realistically done portrait of a dark-haired man, mid-twenties.

The painting itself is massive and covers the entire wall at the front of the house. The colors are mostly dark and blur into each other when they make an impact. All smokey grays, burnt charcoals, a haunting white for the shirt, dusty golden hues for the skin, with one color being the exception. 

In this young handsome man’s right ear is a bright red ruby piercing, and it is more unusual because it’s at the top of the ear whereas his attire looks like that atrocious Victorian-era outfits with the white frilly puffy fabric hanging off the neck and shoulder.

Maybe KIhyun is wrong. That’s not victorian? Maybe it’s steampunk? Either way it gives off the same vibe as this Jooheon guy, even though the portrait is of someone entirely different. It makes him shiver. Because it feels more like he’s seen it before than anything else.

Minhyuk comments when he finds Kihyun dazed staring at the painting for too long. “It seems kind of charming, doesn’t it!”

“It’s probably haunted and we’re all gonna die.” KIhyun tears his eyes away from the picture to find that Jooheon is once again watching him with this intense gaze. Too intense for a stranger to be watching another stranger.

Jooheon clears his throat when Kihyun catches him looking. Doesn't look away or attempt to mask the fact that he's been watching for quite some time. And his smile on grows as he says, in a gravely voice, "The Mansion comes to life at night. And the inhabitants start to call it home before dawn.” and he laughs a bit when Kihyun’s eyes go big.

Kihyun drags behind them making sure to keep as much distance between him and Jooheon as possible. Something doesn’t feel right. Indeed something is wrong. And he felt that before he even walked through the door. So now he knows. He understands. This attractive blonde haired man can probably be the the death of him in more ways than one.

It’s just a dinner. That’s all. He can survive this, no biggie-

After a strange unwarranted tour of the front of the house (three large living rooms, dusty and gray and boring as the rest of the house, with a study attached to one and a wine room a little farther down, which is like a cellar above ground but-), Jooheon leads them to the dining ‘hall’ that Kihyun is startled to find full of people already.

People he has never met, but he’s sure they don’t belong. A red-haired young man with a bunch of holes in his ear stands closest to the entrance, tapping boredly on his phone. Near one of the windows is a group of girls all wearing identical pink lip gloss and matching leather boots, chattering away. 

Sitting at one of the various circular tables is a very bored man in a flashy red suit, his eyebrow quirked and his full fleshy lips slowly lifting into a smirk as he taps circles on the tabletop like he’s waiting patiently for something to happen.

None of these people belong. At least not in one room with each other.

“Alright. This is gonna be some strange whodunnit bullshit, isn’t it.” Kihyun remarks under his breath, and Hyunwoo who has moved just a few feet ahead to greet an old friend looks at KIhyun over the edge of the table with a look of approval. 

 

Everyone is talking and laughing like they’ve known each other for many lifetimes, while drinking disgusting expensive wine from their golden jewel-encrusted chalices. Who the hell even uses chalices? Who even has such a large enough amount to give to this many people? And they are authentic. Kihyun chews his a little and it dings like a gong. They’re fucking real chalices- probably real gold!

 

The bad feeling in his stomach only intensifies when he realizes the host has vanished right before the food arrives. What type of person just leaves a room full of strangers with all of this expensive looking silverware? If Kihyun had a purse he’d fill it to the brim with this stuff. Ugh. 

The only scents are the overpowering dosages of alcohol and strong cologne. But there are no savory smells; nothing that makes the stomach rumble. Why is that? The house can’t be so huge that the dining room and the kitchen are on opposite ends, right? That just wouldn’t be a smart design choice for any building.

Kihyun is still very much sober when it starts pouring down raining outside and finally a few sad looking butlers bring food in, though they are perfect and fluid in serving everyone, forcing smiles to the surface. He is still sober enough, that as everyone is feasting on the meal, he realizes it still doesn’t have a single smell to it. And it also tastes a lot like wet cardboard.

Minhyuk eyes him with worry after the dinner has finished, and makes way for him when the floor is slightly more clear and they can speak without yelling. “You look very shaken. What’s wrong?”

“Jooheon disappeared. From a dinner. That he is hosting.” Kihyun puts as blankly as he can without sounding too accusatory. “And the food tastes blander than stale air.”

“It was really good though. What are you even insinuating?”

“That the next time we see him, the roads are going to be untraversable from all the rain and we’ll have to spend the night?”

 

KIhyun is still pretty shook when, the moment Jooheon reappears, that is exactly what he says. Even though it confirms the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach all along. 

He sulks as he stares at the massive wooden doors that lead outside to freedom, but have been closed to keep the rain from sneaking in, and as it is a very old door Jooheon informs him that, “It has to be barred to keep the wind from pushing it open.”

 

“Surely that is a very heavy door? The wind shouldn’t be able to push it anywhere.” KIhyun turns to face Jooheon, who has once again been staring at him like he’s either the most interesting wonder of the world, or the weirdest. 

“You’re right.” Minhyuk agrees with a look of worry staining his features, though he is glomped to Jooheon like the blond is his life force and if he lets go he’s just going to drop dead on the spot. “Joojoo, baby, why is the door barred like that? I’m worried.”

 

And true enough, there’s a large wooden plank jammed through the handles of the door to stop ‘the wind’ from ‘blowing it open.’ 

Kihyun wrings his fingers like he’s wringing out laundry before hanging it to dry. Shit. Where is Hyunwoo in all of this anyway? His eyes scan over the crowd of unfamiliar faces but never once do they land on his tall beefy friend. 

“It has to be. To keep people in. When you’re in the woods at night you tend to get lost, and in this weather we might never find you again.” Jooheon explains, easing Minhyuk’s nerves just a little bit, just enough; he doesn’t even question the part where Jooheon blatantly says it’s to keep people in. Because that bullshit just makes sense.

That’s not the moment he starts worrying though. The moment it really kicks in is when his eyes just barely skim past that massive painting which has turned to nothing but a blur of gray and black, and right in front of it is the exact same person that was in it. 

Kihyun averts his eyes and looks at Jooheon, then back to the living representation of the painting. Then again, at the canvas which is completely blank save for the black and gray which swirl and purr like it’s alive. His eyes fall down, right in front of the painting, is the dark-haired man that must’ve been the model for the artwork. 

He hesitates for awhile. Maybe nobody sees what he sees? But when Jooheon catches his eye he looks dead at what has stricken Kihyun at fear and confusion and confirms with a smile. “Oh Mr Im, you’re awake.”

Kihyun’s vision starts to blur, the ground swaying beneath him. Something feels wrong, it’s… this isn’t supposed to happen. Not like this. 

“Everyone this is the owner of this house. Changkyun Im. He’s the one that invited all of you here.”

 

Even in the bright lighting of the corridor, Changkyun’s ruby red piercing shines brighter than anything Kihyun has ever seen before. And it is the last glistening thing he sees before he topples over and hits the ground like a bag of bricks.

But unfortunately he doesn’t lose consciousness. 

So that means he’s still one-hundred-percent awake when his eyes blink open and the mysterious handsome owner of the house is hovering over him, though emotionless, his face seems to say a thousand words about what he feels. 

“Kihyun? Are you okay?” the man asks in a deep and soothing tone, but Kihyun for some strange stupid reason attempts to sit up and their lips collide like planets ready to destroy each other.

And damn, is it cliche. 

So cliche he doesn’t even take note of how this man shouldn’t even _know his name in the first fucking place_


	2. Shackled By Smiles.

2\. Shackled By Smiles. 

 

Kihyun sits quietly on the stairs in the corridor closest to the dining hall. Jooheon gives him a sympathetic look when he leads him there after the ‘incident’ with the owner of the property, saying “You should rest here for a little while before you rejoin the party.”

“Party?” Kihyun scoffed around the mouth of a bottle of whiskey that Minhyuk mysteriously produced for him before they parted ways. “I don’t think there was ever supposed to be a party, honestly.”

 

Jooheon cocks his head to the side like a quizzical puppy, but smiles nonetheless, reaches over and gently takes the bottle from Kihyun to store in the pocket of his flashy coat. “I don’t know if you want the answer for that? I think obviously the intent was throwing a party. Did you not enjoy yourself?” his eyes crinkle in the corners; his dimples sink into his cheeks.

“Your boss guy, the owner of the house….” Kihyun trails off, the memory still fresh in his head. The simple peck on the lips was sloppy, maybe only the corners of their lips brushed, and that Changkyun fellow nearly shed his skin in an attempt to get away from Kihyun. “He must be homophobic or something? But then why would he invite Minhyuk and Hyunwoo…”

Jooheon laughs softly, trailing his fingers over the wooden railing of the stairs as he stares down at Kihyun, “Did Cinderella kiss her prince on the first night? Consummate their marriage on the next? Silly you. I think you know better about this than I do.”

 

Jooheon turns abruptly and his little ridiculous coattail floats behind him with the breeze. Before long he’s gone without further explanation, leaving Kihyun in the dimly lit hall with nothing but the sound of the wind howling and the rain pelting the roof to soothe him. Before long it’s a pattern, trying to figure out what any of that means or how it’s relevant.

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drop- step. Kihyun strains his ears a little bit more. _Drip, drip, drip, drop, drip, step. Drip. Step. Step. Step_. He slides on the sleek slippery stair as his eyes struggle to adjust to the low lighting at the top of the staircase. Someone is walking down towards him, someone wearing a vintage looking ankle-coat and a hat with a brim all the way cross. Water is dripping off the bottoms of the coat and the brim of the hat. Water. From outside, rain.

“Good evening.” the deep melodic voice greets him. “I think I am lost. Can you help me find my way?” they extend a bony hand down towards him, beckoning him up, hushed. Kihyun stares at the white rubbery skin and the way it stretches over the fingers like playdough, thin as silk in some places and thick and gummy like biscuits before baking. The thickness of the air is hard to deny and he struggles both with breathing and focusing on the swaying hand of the person in front of him. The next time it speaks, it sounds a lot like him. “Can you help me? Please?”

“Kihyun!” he is shaken from his trance when his name is called, almost immediately turning to the unfamiliar tongue that spoke it. The owner of the house is standing in the doorway of the dining hall, his jacket rests only on his shoulders, his billowy shirt has more room to look ridiculous and huge this way, while once again the ruby piercing in his ear glows more than what should be possible in the dimly lit space.

“Kihyun, don’t talk to people whose faces you can’t see,” Changkyun continues with a mocking undertone. “You don’t want to regret it later.”

Startled, Kihyun points at the misty figure behind him and laughs, “I, uh, didn’t talk to him, at all.” Kihyun turns on the stair to confirm with the mysterious person, but a strike of lightning in a window far too overhead reveals the staircase is entirely empty, save for the dark wet spots where the rainwater ran off the brim of the hat like it was coming out of a faucet. Kihyun stills, his finger shrinking mid-air pointing at the spot, confused. “Where did he -err, it, go?”

“Is your head still ringing from the fall?” in the midst of his confusion he doesn’t hear the heels of Changkyun’s shoes clicking closer to him until the other is standing directly beside him, analyzing him in worry. “I am sorry about that. About startling you with my appearance.”

“Startling?” Kihyun allows a breathy laugh to escape his lips, “No, it’s just my- like you said, my head was ringing. It was just, you must know what I’m saying? It felt wrong to be seeing you there like that.”

“Yeah,” Changkyun agrees, though his eyes focus on the space behind Kihyun, “In front of all those people, there was this oddness to the air. There was… It felt like time stood still, didn’t it? When you saw me?”

Kihyun looks up and in all of his wonder never remembers why he can see Changkyun so vivid, so strikingly in the darkness that surrounds them. The way his eyes twinkle despite having no light to reflect, the way his golden skin coupled with the red glow of the jewel in his ear crash boldly into each other. His lips so red, covered in shine and seduction, Kihyun focuses on the way he speaks and mimics out every word like he's feeling everything Changkyun thinks before he speaks, head tilted to the side and eyes trained on each other even in the dark. “Right, Kihyun? You can see me for what I am?”

Changkyun helps him into a standing position. and shoves something into his hand. In all of the time that he was sitting there he did not remember losing his spectacles after that sudden dizzy spell knocked him down. But sure enough, Changkyun is passing them over to him, his hand lingers over Kihyun’s and for a moment it looks as if he isn't going to let go. 

 

But when he does, Kihyun wonders why the warmth from his fingers remain. 

Why the image of his face was so clear, so visible. 

*******

Kihyun is stomping up the spiral staircase behind his friends as they discuss the oddity of the second floor barely having rooms with beds in it. Jooheon has long finished his speech and offered lodging to everyone already, though he warns them some people may have to share a room, with this sort of undertone that makes one believe if you sleep alone you might not wake up. 

“You may want to find a partner. So that everyone wakes up together in the morning… So that no one gets lost.”

They’re almost to the top of the staircase when the power blinks and then the circuit groans loud and the house shakes as the power shuts off entirely. Kihyun cannot see anything in front of him, but hears the exact timing that Minhyuk trips over the heavy red carpet at the top and falls flat on his face.

Kihyun sniggers, reaching into his back pocket for his neglected phone since he is a firm believer of reserving the battery. “You poor idiots,” he mumbles. But when he switches on the flashlight there’s nobody in front of him anywhere. In fact, when he turns around, the horde of guests that were trailing behind have disappeared as well. There is nothing but dingy ripped carpet, the railings are warped and ruined, the wallpaper on the walls is cracked and peeling to reveal dark nothingness beneath.

He flips the light off and before he turns it on again, the power in the house comes back and Jooheon is helping a fakely crying MInhyuk off the floor. “Oh no, it’s okay, you’re okay.” Jooheon coos reassuringly, dusting Minhyuk off like a concerned mother.

Kihyun yelps loudly for the first time. Not nearly as loud as MInhyuk, who scoots as far away as his bottom can on that annoying plush carpet yelling “Where did you come from?!”

Jooheon’s brow crinkles in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You were just downstairs! How did you get up here so fast?”

“I just ran. Because you were hurt? I’m sorry?”

“Um no way in hell you took three flights of stairs in that short amount of time!”

Kihyun swivels his body so fast because finally someone else realizes how bad all of this feels and starts damn near jogging down the stairs. Traversable or not, this strange feeling of deja vu coupled with this fear is going to kill him if he doesn’t leave this house tonight. 

Kihyun bumps into that creepy man who was sitting at the table earlier, the one in the red suit with the beautiful full set of lips. It’s not like he’s remarkable in appearance or anything, but still, Kihyun clings to the memory of this handsome stranger. And he bows at the waist in apology, like his body has been taken over by something not entirely of his own thought process. 

The man smiles at him and bows as well before he continues up the stairs, Just before they are out of earshot, the man calls down to him. “You should find a room, soon. The heart of the Mansion comes to life at night. And the inhabitants start to call it home before dawn.”

Kihyun remembers hearing this before, he remembers hearing this from someone earlier… But what does it mean? Why does everyone keep saying this to him?

*

Kihyun is sandwiched between Minhyuk and Hyunwoo around about midnight when he overhears talking in the next room over. None of them are sleeping; but he is the only person that is brave enough to break the illusion that they are. “We checked the room next door, right? Empty. No furniture or anything. Why would anyone be in there?”

Minhyuk slaps him on the shoulder and it reverberates in the room. “You need to stop making this the worst thing that has ever happened to you, and try to enjoy it. This is supposed to be like a refreshing vacation.”

 

“And nobody’s trying to kill you or anything so stop being so paranoid.” Hyunwoo adds for good measure, to reassure his longtime friend (and himself) that there is nothing to be scared of and that, also, “we are all together, so we can protect each other.”

“That’s nice.” Kihyun mumbles with a sleepy yawn. “But how do we protect each other if we’re _dead_ Hyunwoo? Minhyuk? Anybody gonna answer that? What're we supposed to do when we all just fucking die tonight?”

The talking in the other room picks up in volume and in pace. Little bits and pieces are starting to be more decipherable, a man and a woman arguing about money and how they do not think they can continue to support the ‘heir’ if the… The 'head’ is upset about… Because things aren't the same anymore….

Hyunwoo sits up and the bed shifts greatly with most of his weight gone; Kihyun is pulled somewhat by gravity towards the dip of where Hyunwoo is sitting. Minhyuk rolls closely behind like the useless log he is. 

“Maybe we should go and see what they’re arguing about?” Hyunwoo looks worried, the way he’s chewing his bottom lip and rubbing the back of his neck. “It sounds serious.”

“Uh. And risk dying? No thanks.” KIhyun shoots back, as he wraps his arms around his beefy friend’s waist in an attempt to immobilize the much bigger stronger man. 

Hyunwoo, with a roll of his eyes, stands effortlessly and leaves Kihyun dangling off the edge of the bed like a tossed over blanket. “You shouldn’t believe everything that guy said. It’s just a huge house. Doesn’t mean it’s going to come to life and swallow me whole.”

The house groans like it knows it’s being talked about and Kihyun all but sobs.

This was a bad idea. Shit this was a bad idea. 

Minhyuk verbally admits this, “It’s a bad idea. Wait. Hyunwoo wait, we should stick together.” before he pathetically falls off the bed too.

This is the story of how they clambered out of their little room (Hyunwoo first, MInhyuk clutching the backs of his shirt, and Kihyun helplessly trying to wipe the smudged fingerprints off of his glasses so that he can see again. You know, so he can see the exact moment that they all die horrendously.)

Anyway they’re tip-toeing over the creaky floorboards trying to make it to the other room when Jooheon comes waltzing down the hallway. He is only wearing an oversized white shirt, it hangs down to his knees, and without music, he floats across each step gracefully.

“Oh Jooheon.” Minhyuk heaves a sigh of relief, like the mere sight of a man dancing in what could easily pass as a dress settles all the nerves in his body. “Can you tell me what’s-” Minhyuk begins to ask but Jooheon just zooms right past them, his feet soundless, disappearing down the darkness of the hall in seconds, like the black void swallowed him whole. 

They all stand there in the quiet for a long time trying to grasp exactly what has happened. Hyunwoo leans against the wall for support, the action brings Minhyuk closer as well, and they crash into each other like gently breaking waves . 

Kihyun feels out of place watching them stare into each others eyes in the almost lightless hallway, the way Minhyuk’s slender fingers clutch at the fabric of Hyunwoo’s shirt, and Hyunwoo has his hands on Minhyuk’s waist to keep him steady and in place. Kihyun feels wrong. He knows he’s already the permanent third wheel of the group and has been for some odd years, but somehow even this is too intimate for him to witness.

His “doesn’t want to get brutally murdered” outweighs his “this is honestly too cute and they should have their moment alone together” so ultimately he stays, standing in the middle of the floor and counting the little white specs on the ugly dark green wallpaper. It’s a lot of them, little white dots, Kihyun begins to wonder what they are. They stand out against the spiraling fabric of the wallpaper. Unchanged. Unmoving. 

Until little white spec number 87 blinks, and of course he was counting them to make the time go by a little faster which is why this bothers him so fucking much. Kihyun steps away from the wall quickly in shock, and almost at once all of the little dots blink, before disappearing entirely, like they were just a part of his imagination to begin with. 

“-hyun you okay?” comes Hyunwoo’s slightly panicked voice, a little bit deeper than normal. He is reaching out to tap Kihyun on the shoulder and knock him out of that daze, but Kihyun abruptly turns to face them before they can touch him, after the incident with the walls leaves his brain scrambled like crazy.

“I’m… Fine?” he replies like it’s more of a question than an answer. 

Hyunwoo locks eyes with him. Says it with the forged steel of a thousand blades. “I saw it too.”

“Huh?” Kihyun’s heart skips clean out of his ribcage, the ringing in his ears. “Saw… What?”

“The eyes.” Minhyuk answers instead, arms crossed over his chest and a pout ready on his lips. “Did you think we were still swooning over each other? When you were acting so strange over here by yourself?”

Kihyun shrugs his shoulders while going “ehhhhhhhh” before he slaps his hand on the cooling surface of the wall. “You ever touched walls that were hot?” he rubs over the slightly bumpy exterior, runs his fingers along all of the small circular bumps and lumps as they give in like dough and completely dissolve under the rough pads of his fingers. Hyunwoo follows suit, and before long Minhyuk too. “Aren’t walls normally cold?” Kihyun nudges his point further.

And then Hyunwoo is yanking his hand away and grabbing both his husband and his best friend to pull them back to the room. “Kihyun listen to me. The house isn’t alive. It can’t be.”

“I didn’t say it was. You, you saw it too! You felt it!” Kihyun digs his feet into the floor, one on the wooden planks and the other on the velvet-y carpet. The wood groans under his weight, a loud and malicious sound that makes Hyunwoo release his grip on Kihyun's wrist. 

“Okay? Just because we saw something doesn't mean we have to play inspector gadget. Let's go back to the room now!” Hyunwoo's chest puffs out and he takes the stance of a man who believes every order he gives has to be followed. Little does he know, Kihyun isn't about to question his authority because he's absolutely correct and there's no point in arguing over whether or not they should inspect the property for spooky happenings. 

Kihyun stands to salute jokingly, straightens his back and brings his legs in closer together. With a wide smile on his face, though barely visible, he lifts his hand to his temple in salute. And-

And then the floor just groans and gives out beneath him, the last thing he sees is Hyunwoo frantically scrambling to catch his fingers before they slip through the splintered crack in the floor, the same opening that immediately closes up after he vanishes through it. 

 

_I had a dream of my love. He is not my love anymore. I wish I could rewind time. I wish I could be the last breath he took before he died._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "so shackled by smiles  
> so empty  
> we're scared of the war, so  
> we've forgotten who we are"
> 
>  
> 
> I'll bring the horror next chapter. I promise! <3 this has been collecting dust in my gdocs for a long time so I will let it see the light.


	3. The Fading Sun

Kihyun is aware of falling, an undeniably terrifying feeling shaking his very core. It's like jumping off the edge of a cliff in a bad dream, heart racing, fingers scrambling to grab something-- anything to lessen the impact, his body weightless but all-too-heavy at the same time. He blinks and Hyunwoo and Minhyuk blur into the closing hole of the floor he fell through. It must be an eternity that passes in those seconds that he falls. His life is gone in the blink of an eye, and in another blink he realizes he forgot to feed the cat from upstairs like he'd promised the neighbors while they're on their own vacation. Damn. At least there's nobody left on this earth that will miss him. 

The thing is, he doesn't remember hitting the ground, or anything for that matter-- until he snaps out of his daze beside a much younger Minhyuk. The scenery is different from the mansion moments before, the sky mixed hues, faded gold, cotton candy pink; a pale blue to pull it all into more than just a pretty painting, still it is unsettling enough to see the sky all different colors before a sunset but to feel the heat scorching even down to his bones. They're standing in line at the only Waterpark in the small city where they first met, harsh rays of the disappearing sun still beating down on them. 

Minhyuk turns to him with a smile stretched until the gooey pink of his gums. “It's okay. You're not dreaming….” he whispers, then moves forward as they're the only two people in line going nowhere each step at a time. Kihyun follows behind him cautiously. “You're not dreaming,” he repeats, again taking a step, apprehensively shuffling behind is Kihyun, “You're dead.” The amusement park starts to slowly burn away in the corners of his vision, he can almost feel the flames licking the back of his neck, but he's too scared to turn around, too scared to see what's waiting for him there. The fear of what is behind is more overwhelming than moving forward. 

“If you follow me here, you won't come back.” Minhyuk’s body faces forward when he moves, but Kihyun is starting to come to grips with the fact that his head is facing in the opposite direction, his neck twisted blue and purple, their eyes locked on one another. He's starting to come to grips with the fact that there are dozens of charred black fingers protruding from the ground waiting to drag him under and bury him for good, just take another step, just one more to end it all here-

And then an unseen hand grabs the sleeve of his shirt and yanks him backward. He falls again, but this time into the familiar setting of the dining hall in the creepy mansion, his body hits the floor with a dull ‘thud’ though he's physically fine even after all of whatever just happened to him. It takes several seconds for him to recognize the feeling of another body under him, something that he's obviously not too familiar with. He rolls over unto the cold polished floor and heaves as deep as his burning lungs will allow before he chances a glance at the person that he fell on top of, lest it turns out to be one of the spooky crawlies that go bump in the night. He's already had enough of that for the rest of his remaining days! 

He's not entirely wrong. The one and only Changkyun himself is laying there helpless, blearily star-gazing at the barely visible popcorn ceiling, breathing slow. Then he turns to Kihyun and cracks the biggest grin, Kihyun half expects his cheeks to split open and reveal all of his teeth, a disturbing thought he wishes he’d never had. “You're safe!”

“Am I!?!” his shrieks in return do nothing to faze Changkyun's happiness, who throws his arms around Kihyun's squirming frame and laughs happily. 

He sobers up from his fit of giggles fairly quickly though, and his cheeky grin is replaced by a thin pout. “Aren't you supposed to be with your friends? It's not safe here at night. We told everyone that repeatedly for a reason. The second the sun sets, everything in here comes to life and-”

Kihyun shoves his entire fist against Changkyun's lips to shush him, then he growls the least threatening “shut the fuck up”. As much as he'd like to hear Changkyun's smooth voice so close to his ears for the next eleven years of infinity or whatever his life span is, they are not alone. Jooheon is standing in the corner with his bunched up nightshirt in one fist, eyes unnaturally dark, and his lips moving to form something. Kihyun's awful at reading lips, so it either has something to do with spoiled dairy, or 100% murder.

“Can I leave? I'm leaving now.” Kihyun says all too abruptly, doesn't even wait for an answer before he scrambles to his feet and bounds for the grand archway that leads out of the dining hall. “I'm leaving, okay?” he calls over his shoulder, “I'm not about to deal with any of… Whatever this is. Did you put drugs in the dinner? That's what it is right?” When he strides straight into that same solid chest, Changkyun braces him with gentle fingers and a sad little smile, much different from the gummy one he'd used when Kihyun literally fell on top of him. “How'd you! Ugh, how did you get in front of me?” 

“You can't leave right now,” he says, glancing nervously towards the spook-corner Jooheon for approval. “Nobody can leave when the sun sets, because outside isn't… Outside anymore.”

Kihyun's squinting before he can even finish his sentence, the gleam from that ruby in his ear is once again the only thing he can focus on, even more than the steady thrum of what could be the only heartbeat in the room. “Why is your heart not beating?” he touches a hand to Changkyun's chest and Changkyun swats it away just as quickly. This is when it clicks one by one what he's heard. “What the hell do you mean? Of course, outside is outside! That makes no sense!” Jooheon is twitching in the corner like he's possessed or something, Kihyun spares him a concerned gaze, but his eyes slip over the smooth surface of the table and out towards the large window at the end decorated by grand red curtains with gold stitching in a criss-cross pattern. 

On an average night you'd probably be able to see the moon shining through the trees, especially in an area like this where the trees aren't as dense as regular probably due to landscaping when this place was built. No matter how much you want to ignore the shadows dancing on the ground, the trees swaying in the gentle breeze, almost as if they are living and breathing themselves. Tonight there is nothing. 

There is nothing but darkness.

The spell starts to wear away for him.   
Not that there was much to begin with.  
But the night is just beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> something small and unedited ~ how are you guys? I hope everyone is doing great! <3

**Author's Note:**

> this came about from a prompt I was reading, which said the exact same things Kihyun said, plus I love a good haunted house aesthetic.  
> the inspiration for this also comes from a song I used to adore, which is Set it Off's Nightmare. my hard rocker soul is pleased to admit that.  
> this will be chaptered: small chapters that are easier to digest and enjoy. 
> 
> thank you for taking the time to read! I hope to see you again soon!


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